Review of Air Côte d'Ivoire flight from Abidjan to Dakar in Economy

Intro

Welcome to the second leg of my adventure with Air Cote d'Ivoire. I was extremely excited about this flight for many reasons, but the main one was trying out a different aircraft to the one I was on before, the standard A320-200. This would also be the day I eclipsed country number 92 (as I don't count the Ivory Coast since it was a stopover only)

Overall, this flight was quite decent. I was happy to see a full meal provided on an 1100-mile flight, and the wifi did work! However, there was one downside…

How I Booked

The continent of Africa has to be the most expensive continent to fly around. On the day I had to be in Dakar, there were no direct flights from Lagos. Thus, the most efficient and cheapest option would be to book a flight between Lagos and Abidjan, continuing onto Dakar for an hour on the Ivory Coast.

Here is where the price hiked: I didn't know if I needed a visa to transit in Abidjan, so I reached out to different people and the embassy before booking. When I came back to book 10 days before departure, the price was 627$ in economy.

Transit

Once arriving from Lagos onboard the A320neo, there was a very lengthy transit line. With 13 minutes until boarding, I was beginning to get a bit worried about how I was going to make my flight.

10 minutes passed, and I informed an agent that I was on the Dakar flight. They quickly ushered me to the front of the queue as the plane was apparently just beginning boarding.

Immigration is not done for transit passengers, but you must re-clear security. They had one line for security for over 150 passengers. Yes, one line…  

Abidjan Airport is a very small place with no more than 15 gates. Needless to say, I was able to find my departure gate for today within a couple of minutes, just as they began boarding. 

Boarding

Boarding commenced promptly at 12:30 for a 1 pm departure. Originally, this was scheduled for 12:20 p, but as an ongoing trend with Cote d'Ivoire, they put the boarding times a little early.

The A320 for today: TU-TSV

It was busy in the jetbridge; deplaning and boarding took forever with Air Cote d'Ivoire. 

The Seat/Cabin

The seats on the A320 are vastly similar to the A320neo. The only difference between the two is that the cabins on the A320 are a little more dated, which makes sense, as these planes are about 3 years older than the Neo.

These pictures were taken upon deplaning

The economy cabin still doesn't feature seatback entertainment…

My seat, 24F, was a decent seat to be in. The pitch remained at 32 inches, the recline wasn't too bad, and not once did I feel cramped. The one thing I noticed was how scratched up the seatbelts were. 

For a moment there, I thought that I might have lucked out with an empty row. However, the last two people on the plane sat down in the two adjacent seats😞. Not that it was a problem, thanks to the spacious legroom on Air Cote d'Ivoire.

Departure

By 1:00 pm local time, the cabin doors were closed, and we were ready for pushback. The captain came on to announce our flight time of 2 hours and 35 minutes over to Dakar and expected a smooth flight.

We pushed back a moment later.

Everything was going great, and we were almost ready to go. 

But we held…

And held…

15 minutes later, the captain came on to announce that we had to return to the gate to run a couple of checks. 😞

For the next hour, the flight deck kept us informed regarding what was going on with the plane. Obviously, something like this happens all the time around the world, and it shows the safety precautions in the aviation field.

An hour and 15 minutes after our scheduled departure, it was time for round 2.

A very short 7-minute taxi later, with no incoming traffic, we were wheels up to Dakar (country 92) through a rainy day on the Ivory Coast.

Meal Service

Once through the clouds, it's as if there was a shift in life overall. From delays and horrendous rain in Abidjan to beautiful weather and good food😉.

On our way up to cruising altitude, the cabin crew snapped into action to serve a full meal to passengers. There were two options to choose from, and once I heard beef, I already knew what I would be eating.

One of the flight attendants serves the meal while the other one offers drinks to passengers.  

The beef and potato dish was quite delicious, and the red wine was the perfect way to accompany the meal. Passengers could ask for more than one drink, which I found to be good. 

IFE+WIFI

If you remember, in the previous report, I had problems with accessing the wifi and in-flight entertainment. The Wi-Fi had 20 GB of upload per second and 85 GB of download per second. 

I'm joking; wifi was exorbitant when it came to pricing 😅.

Look, if you really need wifi, then it is there, but 18$ for 100mb is absurd.

There was also basic IFE, but the Wifi prices threw me off the internet system very quickly. Plus, how often do I get to look out of the window over beautiful Guinea?

Seeing as the wifi price was exorbitant, I decided to check out the route map which proved to be quite intriguing. Before going to Africa, I knew there was plenty of French speaking countries (I studied for 14 years and still no zilch). However, what I didn't realize is just how much French is spoken in West Africa. Additionally (off topic), did you know that there are over 250 dialects in the DRC…

Call me sheltered all you want, I just wasn't taught that😞

Arrival

With checking out all of the inflight entertainment, and the meal service, it was time to descend into country number 92. Just shy of 4 pm local time, the captain came on to announce our descent into Dakar, with our touchdown occuring in approximately 30 minutes. 

The captain was pretty much spot on, as we touched down at 4:29 pm local time in the new Dakar airport. 

Another amazing landing. If it were up to me, Air Cote d'Ivoire might win an award for some of the best landings I've experienced.

It was a very short taxi over to our gate where we pulled up next to an ASKY 737. Yeah, the one from Lome, that wasn't delayed😂.

Once deplaning, it was off to immigration. Since I was almost at the back, and needed to use the toilet, I ended up in the very back of a very, very slow line. Oh my gosh, out of all of the airports I went to in Africa, Dakar was the worst immigration. However, it was also the best later…

45 mins later, I had cleared baggage claim. Not that it mattered, since a simple customs check took another 30 minutes… HUH??

Exiting the airport, you will find a taxi stand with taxi drivers attempting to rip off tourists. While I do understand that the airport is over 50km away from West Downtown, I obviously know that the "30,000 Francs flat rate" is above what the actual flat rate.

After some back and forth, I managed to get it down to 20,000 Francs

A Spontaneous Night Out In Dakar

My plan for Dakar was simple; I was going to get into the town, drop off my bags, see a few sights, and have an early night in bed. Needless to say, this is not how it ended up… but for the better. 

Here is a couple of pics from the airport to Dakar, its almost 65 km's away…

It all started with watching the Champions League Final at a cafe/bar in Dakar. I met this man from the Ivory Coast, who kept buying me beers😅. With my little bit of French, we managed to have some basic conversation. It was a cool experience though, and as soon as Vini scored, all of the kids in the cafe were doing the celebration.

Well, with all the beers and getting a touch rowdy watching the CL Final, I decided that I would head to my Airbnb to freshen up. Unfortunately, there was no hot water at the apartment, and the AC wasn't working. I did manage to sleep later that evening. 

As it was still probably around 8 pm at this point, I decided I'd head out to a bar I found online called BOMA for a drink and then be back by 10 pm. 

So, I headed off to BOMA and had a beer, and just as I was getting ready to leave, I got talking with a person from Dakar. After about 15 minutes of talking, he mentioned that the club was opening in 10 minutes and we should go. Bare in mind, in no way am I dressed for clubbing. I was wearing a boxing T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and slides… Nor do I ever go clubbing anymore since it isn't my vibe (more of a chill Speakeasy type if I go out). 

He somehow managed to get me into the club.I had one of the best going-out nights of my life. Wow, do the Senegalese know how to party? I had never been out in Africa, and it's now the only place I will probably ever go out. It was mind-boggling to see the love that everyone shows to one another. No one was on their phone, and everyone was just having a good time. The last time I went out was in New York, which is quite the Polar opposite. 

Well, it was all well and good until the next morning when I woke up. Very few times is a hangover worth it, this time it was. While plan was supposed to be sightseeing, I met some new friends in Senegal and ended up with a night I will never forget (most of it).